What is it that makes one worthy of being the Grail king? In Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval tale, Parzival, Gawain is a caring knight, always looking to avoid conflicts when possible, and living up to a very high standard of honor; Parzival on the other hand bumbles through life, usually with little concern for others, and often engaging in battle – even to the extent that he fights several knights at one point without even realizing it. And yet it is Parzival, not Gawain, who is destined to become the Grail king. Why?

Parzival may be confused, and far from perfect, but he has within him, I believe, the seed of spirituality. He was not, like many, raised with a religious doctrine, but was instead completely ignorant of God as a child. When he asks his mother what God is, she gives him an over- simplified answer, telling him that God is, “He who took on a shape in the likeness of Man is brigher than the sun” (Eschenbach, 71-72). Without much more information than that to go on, Parzival sees some knights in their shining armor and assumes they must be God. This, to me, symbolized the importance of when Parzival is setting out on his great spiritual quest, he knows nothing of spirituality or religion at all. As Parzival stumbles through life, he comes to learn to hate God; here we see Parzival having a crisis of faith of sorts, before he has any faith at all.

With time, Parzival becomes more and more aware of the world around him. With the help of his uncle – the hermit Trevrizent – Parzival is able to germinate that spiritual seed within – a seed uncorrupted by dogma – and flower to become a truly spiritual and compassionate person who is ultimately successful in healing the Fisher king and becoming the new Grail king himself.

Gawain on the other hand, as has already been stated, is an overall good man, caring and wise to the ways of the world, but yet he is lacking that seed of spirituality that is within Parzival. As the great scholar, Joseph Campbell once put it:

“Gawain is a lady’s knight; he is the counterweight to Parzival. Parzival is young, this is an older and sophisticated man, a very gracious man who is a man of the world and Gawain’s adventure… is in balance and counter-play to Parzival’s. Parzival’s is that of the ideal of life, the youth who for Heaven’s sake meets just the right girl in just the right moment that way, Gawain never did, so Gawain is the rest of us you might say” (Campbell).

Gawain is, in many ways, that which the majority of us would aspire to be; His quest is a noble one when concerning material things, and he is rewarded with the kingship of the castle of Marvels in return. Parzival on the other hand is not the greatest at worldly things, but comes to embrace that which is reserved for very few: true spiritual attainment. It is this spiritual attainment, encompassed in his growth from ignorant fool to one with a true sense of compassion, that makes him suitable for the role of the Grail king.

Works Cited

Campbell, Joseph. “The Joseph Campbell Audio Collection Vol 6: Western Quest.” Lecture. (Available on Amazon)

Eschenbach, Wolfram Von. Parzival. Trans. A. T. Hatto. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1980. Print. (Available on Amazon)

Gawain, as portrayed at the end of his life by Malory, is an interesting character who’s mood makes some significant changes rather quickly. After Lancelot causes the death of some of his family, Gawain tells Arthur, “[h]owbeit I am sorry of the death of my brother and of my two sons, but they are the causers of their own death; and oftentimes I warned my brother Sir Agravain, and I told him of the perils the which be now fallen (Malory, 171).”

This attitude of wholesale forgiveness doesn’t last long however, as Lancelot comes riding in with his swords slashing to save Guinevere, he causes the deaths of two more of Gawain’s brothers, Gareth and Gaheris, only unlike the others, they were unarmed (ibid. 172). Arthur even worries that “the death of them will cause the greatest mortal war that ever was, for I am sure that when Sir Gawain knoweth thereof that Sir Gareth is slain, I shall never have rest of him till I have destroyed Sir Lancelot’s kin and himself both, other else he to destroy me (ibid. 173).” Gawain’s attitude of what almost seems to be forgiveness beyond justification is turned on it’s head as Gawain swears revenge and says he will kill Lancelot, or die trying (ibid. 175).

Being told by Arthur that Lancelot was within Joyous Garde, Gawain persuades Arthur to attack Joyous Garde in an attempt to get his revenge (ibid. 176). The Pope ends up getting involved, sending a Bishop to Joyous Garde to broker a peace agreement (ibid. 183), but Gawain is unsatisfied, saying, “Sir, the king may do as he will, but wit thou well, Sir Lancelot, shall never be accorded while we live, for thou has slain three of my brethren. And two of them thou slew traitorly and piteously, for they bore none harness against thee, neither none would do (ibid. 187).” Gawain than proceeds to convince Arthur to attack Lancelot’s lands, leaving Mordred in control of his throne while he is gone (ibid. 193). During the ensuing battle, Gawain calls Lancelot a traitor (ibid. 196) and so Lancelot agrees to fight Gawain, leaving him defeated but alive (ibid. 198). Gawain retreated to heal for three weeks as the battle continued to rage on, only to reappear calling for the traitorous Lancelot to fight him again (ibid. 199). Lancelot and Gawain fight again, for a full three hours, before Lancelot again beats Gawain, but refuses to kill him (ibid. 201).

Gawain’s revenge was justifiable, as those he lost were not armed and were loyal knights and brothers who had done nothing to deserve death. The scope of Gawain’s revenge, however, may have gone a bit too far. While it was necessary for a knight to defend his honor and his loyalties, Gawain not only did it at the expense of the kingdom and everyone around him, but he did so in direct opposition to the Pope. Gawain’s insistence that Arthur attack Lancelot’s lands put Mordred in charge of things in England, and nothing good can come from that.

Gawain, having fought in the battle against his half-brother, Mordred, was mortally wounded on the battlefield. Upon receiving this mortal wound, Gawain called for Arthur to bring him pen and paper so he could write a letter to Lancelot, wherein he writes that he was “smitten upon the old wound that thou gave me afore the city of Benwick, and through that wound I am come to my death-day (ibid. 205).” Gawain goes on to write quite a bit more and takes his sacrament before finally giving way to death (ibid. 206).

Works Cited

Malory, Thomas. King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales. Ed. Eugène Vinaver. London: Oxford UP, 1975. Print. (Available on Amazon)

The following is a fictional response to a fictional letter based on a dialogue written by Andreas Capellanus circa 1175:

Dear Lord and Lady,

Thank you for considering my feedback on your situation; your predicament certainly does seem to be a sticky one. The lord is correct in his views that jealousy is required for love and that jealousy will, in fact, increase the effects of love, I fear his belief that love cannot exist in marriage may be, however, a bit misguided. The lady is to be admired for her ability to stay steadfast in the presence of confusion as to the right and proper action.

What the lord says about love being impossible in marriage quite simply flies in the face of the rules of love as we know them. As we all know, to be married does not excuse one from loving, and new loves tend to replace old loves, so on this basis, continuing with the affair may not be the right thing to do. If the lord has done anything, he has given the lady reason to consider the offer, which in turn has given her husband reason to suspect the worst of her intensions and actions, arousing jealousy and causing his love for her to grow stronger.

If, however, the husband does not react as I have stated, if his love has began to wane (which as we know leads to love continuing to wane until it exists no more) and if he is neither suspicious nor worried about the lady, than I see no good reason for stopping the lady from having more than one lover. If this path is chosen, take great care to proceed with caution, for it is a dangerous game. The lord and lady may very well fall in love, the lady awaiting his return visits to the city so they can once again hold each other in the embrace of love while the lord’s thoughts become overrun by dreams of returning to a place which is not his home just to see his lover once again. If this is as it is to be, be sure to heed the importance of secrecy in love, for if the husband finds out, being also a man of great importance and nobility, death or even war could be the result.

If the lord and lady decide to go forward with this plan of love, it should be recognized that, within the rules of love, reasons for doing so can be found and the actions can be justified, just beware of the warning I have given an rest well with the comfort that your lover is, if nothing else, well versed in the rules of love. If, on the other hand, the lord and lady decide to abort their plans for love and part company, this too should be recognized as right, noble, and within the bounds of the rules of love.

I wish I could give a nice and easy answer, but with matters concerning such complicated topics as that of courtly love, this is not always possible. Rest assured that whatever action you do choose, the rules are rigged in your favor.

Sincerely,

Marie of France, Duchess of Champagne